Language/Modern-greek-1453/Pronunciation/Alphabet

The Greek Alphabet

The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters and has been used since 900 BC to write the Greek language. It is considered to be the first writing system to use a separate symbol for each vowel and consonant, and it is the oldest alphabetic system still in use. Today, Greek letters are used not only for writing modern Greek but also for mathematical and scientific symbols.

One of the most notable contributions of the Greek alphabet is its influence on the development of other writing systems. The Gothic, Glagolitic, Cyrillic, Coptic, and Latin alphabets all owe their existence to the Greek alphabet. Originally, the Greek alphabet had only one form for each letter.

The distinction between uppercase and lowercase letters in the Greek alphabet developed during the modern era, following a similar trend as the Latin alphabet. This feature was not used in ancient Greek writing, but it is now used in both ancient and modern Greek writing.

The Greek alphabet is based on inscriptions found in Crete, dating back to around 800 BC. It is uncertain what names were given to the letters, and some letters had multiple forms. During this time, Greek was written mainly from right to left in horizontal lines.

The uppercase and lowercase forms of the 24 letters are:

Denomination Ονομασία	Prononciation Προφορά.	Equivalent to the International Phonetic Alphabet
Α  α	alpha : voyelle	a, as in cat
Β  β	vita	v, as in vase
Γ  γ	gamma	between y as in yes and g as in go, but with no hard 'g' sound, e.g. weather
Δ  δ	delta	th, as in the
Ε  ε	épsilon : voyelle	e, as in very
Ζ  ζ	zêta	z, as in zoo
Η  η	îta =voyelle	ee, as in bee
Θ  θ	thîta	th, as in think
Ι  ι	iota : voyelle	ee, as in beer or i, as in sit
Κ  κ	kappa	k, as in look
Λ  λ	lamda	l, as in love
Μ  μ	mi	m, as in money
Ν  ν	ni	n, as in night
Ξ ξ	ksi	x, as in box
Ο  ο	ômicron : voyelle	o, as in box
Π  π	pi	p, as in path
Ρ  ρ	ro	r, as in road
Σ  σ / ς : Τελικό	sigma	s, as in sit
Τ  τ	taf	t, as in table
Υ  υ	Ypsilon : voyelle	ee, as in bee
Φ  φ	fi	ph, as in photo
Χ  χ	chi	h, as in house
Ψ  ψ	psi	ps, as in upstairs
Ω  ω	oméga : voyelle

Author

➡ Marianthi

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Related Lessons

• The Greek sentence types
• Punctuation
• Paronyms and Homonyms
• Word Accentuation
• Discours direct indirect
• Verbes auxiliaires
• The combinations «αυ» and «ευ»
• Irregular adjectives
• Accentuation
• Past Tense